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Hardness Test

Exp. #5

Eng. Ahmed S. Al-Afeefi

Eng. Ibrahim aljaish
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Objectives

• To measure the hardness of the materials by

Rockwell, Brinell and Vickers hardness test.

• To become familiar with Combined Digital

Hardness Tester.
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Introduction
• Hardness is the resistance of metal to plastic
deformation, usually by indentation.
• The term may also refer to stiffness or temper, or to
resistance to scratching, abrasion, or cutting.

• It is the property of a metal, which gives it the ability

to resist being permanently, deformed (bent,
broken, or have its shape changed), when a load is
applied.

• The greater the hardness of the metal, the greater

resistance it has to deformation.
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Hardness Test Advantages

• They are simple and inexpensive—ordinarily no special
specimen need be prepared, and the testing apparatus is
relatively inexpensive.
• The test is nondestructive—the specimen is neither fractured
nor excessively deformed; a small indentation is the only
deformation.
• Other mechanical properties often may be estimated from
hardness data, such as tensile strength
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Hardness Measurement Methods

• Brinell hardness test.
• Rockwell hardness test.
• Vickers hardness test.

• The three methods determine the metal's resistance to the

penetration of a non-deformable ball , cone and pyramid.

• The tests determine the depth which such a ball or cone will
sink into the metal, under a given load, within a specific
period of time.
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Hardness: Measurement
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Rockwell Hardness Test

• The indenter may either be a steel ball of some specified diameter or
a spherical diamond-tipped cone of 120° angle.

• A minor load of 10 kg is first applied, which causes an initial

penetration and holds the indenter in place.

• Then, the major load is applied (60,100,150) for HRA, HRB and
HRC respectively .

• Upon removal of the major load, the depth reading is taken while
the minor load is still on. The minor load of 10 kg is NOT taken into
account in the computation.

• Then, the hardness number can be read directly from the scale.
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ROCKWELL STANDARDS TESTS

Hardness Scale Rockwell A Rockwell B Rockwell C

Total load in Kg
60 100 150
(pre-load 10Kgf)
1 60kg
Actual weight 1 60kg
1 60kg 2 40kg
Applied marked as 2 40kg
3 50kg
Steel Ball
Indenter Diamond cone 120 0
1/16 dia
Diamond cone 120 0

Material

Measurement
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Brinell Hardness Test

• Brinell hardness is determined by forcing a hard steel or carbide
sphere of a specified diameter (2.5mm) under a specified load into
the surface of a material and measuring the diameter of the
indentation left after the test.

• The Brinell number, is obtained by dividing the load used, in

kilograms, by the actual surface area of the indentation, in square
millimeters.

• After the impression is made, a measurement of the diameter of the

resulting round impression is taken.

• The hardness is calculated by dividing the load by the area of the

curved surface of the indention, (the area of a hemispherical surface
is arrived at by multiplying the square of the diameter by 3.14159
and then dividing by 2).
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Brinell Hardness Test Cont.

Where:
 BHN = Brinell Hardness Number
 F = the imposed load in kg
 D = the diameter of the spherical indenter in mm
 Di = diameter of the resulting indenter impression in mm
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Vickers Hardness Test

• It is the standard method for measuring the hardness of metals, particularly
those with extremely hard surfaces: the surface is subjected to a standard
pressure for a standard length of time by means of a pyramid-shaped
diamond.

• Vickers hardness is a measure of the hardness of a material, calculated from

the size of an impression produced under load by a pyramid-shaped
diamond indenter.

• The indenter employed in the Vickers test is a square-based pyramid whose

opposite sides meet at the apex at an angle of 136º.

• The Vickers number (HV) is calculated using the following formula:

HV = 1.854(F/D^2)

F : the applied load (measured in kilograms-force)

D : arithmetic mean of the length of the two diagonals of the indentation, in
mm
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Brinell and Vickers Standards

VICKERS 30 BRINELL
Rockwell b
HV30 HB 2.5/187.5
30 100 kg 187.5
Total Load in kg
(pre-load 3kgf) (pre-load 10kgf) (pre-load 10kgf)

1 60kg
Actual weight 1 60kg 2 40kg
30kg
Applied marked as 2 40kg 3 50kg
4 37.5kg
Diamond Pyramid Steel ball 1/16 in Steel Ball
Indentor
1360 2.5 mm dia
Material

Measurement
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Results
• RHN(A,C) =100-500t
• RHN(B) = 130-500t
Where t is the depth of the indentation in mm.
You are responsible for calculating the depth as
was shown in the lectures.

• For Vickers and brinell hardness tests check

previous slides
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Questions
Describe the procedure of the experiment?